Cosmetic glove



Nov. 3, 1953 c L. MILTON, JR., ET AL 2,657,394

COSMETIC GLOVE Filed Feb. 2, 1948 Patented Nov. 3, 1953 UNITED STATEATENT OFFICE COSMETIC GLOVE Application February 2, 1948, Serial No.5,717

(Granted under Title 35, U. S. Code (1952),

see. 266) 5 Claims.

The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or forthe Government for governmental purposes, without payment to us of anyroyalty thereon.

The present invention relates to cosmetic gloves that are adapted to befitted over and worn on artificial hands.

Cosmetic gloves as customarily employed as coverings for artificialhands are open to the objection of unnaturalness in appearance, showingimmediately that the wearer has an artificial hand. The conventionalglove of this type actually attracts attention to the fact that thewearer is an amputee; and the availability of a cosmetic glove whichclosely approximates the appearance of a natural hand so as to defydetection even on close inspection has been a long wanted factor forassisting in uplifting and maintaining the morale of amputees having torely on artificial hands. Such an accessory, however, has not beenavailable or known prior to the present invention.

The present invention, therefore, has for one of its objects theprovision of a cosmetic glove, which, when worn as a covering for amechanical or prosthetic hand, is indistinguishable in appearance and intouch from a natural hand.

A further object of the invention is to provide a natural-appearingcosmetic glove of the above-indicated character which is cheap tomanufacture and which is available to amputees at a very low cost.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a cosmetic glovefor use on artificial hands which is indistinguishable in appearancefrom a natural hand, duplicating in great fidelity all lines, markingcontours, as well as skin texture in the mating hand.

Other objects of the invention will become apparent asthe descriptionproceeds, and the features of novelty will be pointed out inparticularity in the appended claims. 7

The factors leading to the successful realization of the objects of theinvention are the method by which the improved cosmetic gloves of theinvention are produced and the composition of the resinous material fromwhich the gloves the first step is to obtain an impression of the handof a subject which is to serve as a model. Numerous methods of obtainingsuch impressions are known, which may be employed in carrying out theprocess of the present invention. However, in carrying out the presentinvention, it is preferred to use an alginate impression compound suchas those sold under the trade-names of "Zelex or Coe-loid, both of whichare composed of sodium alginate, an inert filler such as clay, whiting,or the like, and dehydrated calcium sulphate. A cylindrical orelliptical cylinder or tray, which conveniently is truncated, isprepared. A non-rigid tray preferably is employed, such as one fashionedfrom thin sheet metal or screen and backed with a heavy sheet ofvulcanized rubber or synthetic rubber. Into this tray is poured theimpression compound, mixed with water containing phosphate ions, forexample, tri-sodium phosphate, resulting in precipitation of a calciumphosphate in the impressioncompound. The hand of a subject which is toserve as a model is thrust into the liquid impression compound andallowed to remain there until the latter has hardened to a firm gel. Thehand is loosened from the resulting impression by means of gentlemuscular movements, water being poured down between the flesh and theimpression, and with the aid of air introduced around the fingers andhand to prevent the creation of a vacuum, the model hand is withdrawn,leaving a cavity surrounded by a negative impression of the hand.

The impression compound employed must retain its consistency up to theboiling point of water. After the model hand has been removed, theimpression is immersed in hot water in order to heat the gelledimpression for the next step-which is the production of a positive fromthe negative impression in which all lines, markings and othercharacteristics in the model hand have been reproduced in full detail.

The impression when heated in the water bath is removed therefrom anddrained, and while still hot into it is poured a resinous dispersion ofthe following preferred composition, the proportions being parts byweight:

Paste grade polyvinyl chloride-acetate copol- In preparing thisdispersion, the polyethyl methacrylate (or polymethyl methacrylate) isdissolved in the plasticizer with the aid of heat conductive. well-knownin-the 'art,-'forexample,zby thoroughly cleaning the surface of {theqpositive, followed -by- -;3,

to facilitate solution. The polyvinyl chlorideacetate copolymer, whichshould contain over 87% and preferably over 95% of vinyl chloride toretain -fluidity over sufficiently long periods of time, is incorporatedin the solution until a paste is formed, the dispersion being preparedupon a three-roll ink or paint mill, the copoly: mer being added untilthe dispersion has the consistency of rather thick library paste.

The dispersion is poured into the impression and the latter rotated sothat th'e paste 'iSspread into a film over the entire surface of the 'impression. The paste, upon coming into contact with the hot walls of theimpression, gels, forming a relatively thin skin 'of a .fiexiblegplastic material in the negative impression. This plastic skin orpositive model is a very accurate reproduction of the model hand used.ilnpractice, from approximately 0.5 per cent to approximately by weightof the polyethyl meth- =acrylate (or polymethyl :methacrylate) may .bedissolved in the plasticiaer, and from percent 111055 :per cent of theplasticizer may bet-employed. These percentages are per cent -.by Weightof the total composition.

The iresulting plastic positive isheated .in the impression'to toughenit, :and then, in order to render this positive rigid, a mixture of sandand wax is poured and vibrated .intothe I cavity within the plasticskin. Itawill beapparent that:the rimpressionof the hand-of the modelishollow and open, as isthe plastic skin positive. .The resulting rigidpositive is rendered ready for further treatment by having anelectrodebar thrust ,into

the wax-sand mixture ,to serve as .-a :cathode hanger. The alginateimpression --compound is removed from the positive, leaving the positivean .exact, rigid replica of the original hand. It

may :be desirable .to fill in some {of the deeper :cracks in order toproduce-a glove of more :uniform thickness and greater strength.

The next step is the production of=a mold on this positive. Various-methods of .making the mold are available, but nelectroforming ispreferred. However, the mold -may be prepared by g,

on which the metal is deposited. as.

In order to deposit the -metal 'on the plastic positive surface, thissurface must be rendered This is accomplished by :methodssensitizationby immersion in a solutionrof stannous chloride, and thensimultaneously spraying onto the sensitized surface an ammoniacalv:solution of silver nitrate and a-solution-ofa suitable reducing a ent.small quantity of awetting agent, for example, Triton 720, which is'anaryl-polyether-sodium sulphonate, although such addition is not"necessary. Hydrazine sulphate is a satisfactory reducing agent,although -many others -may "be r employed, as will be apparent.Actually, thesilveringis not an essential step inthe overallprocess,

.since conductivity may be obtained through the use of graphite, bronzepowder,.a chemically 'deposited copper film, and other methods well(known in the art.

The electroforming itself is carried out a manner well known in the.art. :Preferablypthe deposit is controlled so as to be approximately0.02 to '0;0,3 inch "thick and 'is entirely 10f metal. f

Preferably, there .is added :a

described more particularly I a non-porous uniform deposit may beemployed, 'zforzexample, the well known W atts bath, and the copper froma standard high acid copper bath. The all-chloride'niokel bathalternatively may be "employed with :excellent results, and the various.addition agents'used in bright nickel e1ectroplating are'bene'ficial"for this purpose also. In order ;to:produce a..mold of uniformthickness, it is desirableto employ, in addition to the usual anodes'inthe bath, an auxiliary anode, positioned centrallyandapproximatelyone inch from the palm :of the hand and in some cases additionalauxiliary anodes positionedbetween the fingers. It is also desirable .tosteal a certain proportion of the current fromthefingertips by the useofa cathode screen, situated just oif the ends of the tips of thefingers and ate. distance from-them, of approximately one and one-halfinches. The excessively thick deposits normally encountered at edges andcorners can be avoided readily in this manner.

Upon completion of the electrodepositing operation, it is only required.to removethewax-sand mixture'from'within and to pull outfthe plasticskin. The first operation isperformed by boiling the mold until the waxhas melted :.and then draining out the wax-and sand. Following this,theflexible plastic skinor glovemay be collapsed or withdrawn. In thecase of :an exceptionally thick skin, small holes maybe hOTdjI13I1th8tips of the fingers to assistin removal .of the plastic material. Ifdesired, thesilver may -be removed from the interior of the moldat thisstage, and the moldcleaned bybeing dipped into nitricxacid, followed byammonia and water. The mold now is ready for use, and can serve for theproduction of 'many thousands of cosmetic gloves. All features of thepositive, whichwas an exact :duplication of the original impression :of:the :model :hand in the alginat.e,:are exactly duplicatedin the mold.

The final cosmetic glove :itself ;is cast from a 'vinyl chloride polymer:or copolymer. In prac ,tice, :there are employed'polymers or copolymerscontaining between per centiand ;'per cent *vinyl chloride, the:remainder being vinyl acetate,

methyl methacrylate, :methyl acrylate, ethyl acrylate, diethyl-maleate,or ;other well :known vinyl compounds.

Two such materials :commercially available are known to the trade asVinylite VYNV-2 and fGeon 100 x 210, the former *of'which is a copolymerof vinyl chloride withsmall percentagesof vinylacetate, the latter beingessentially'polyvinyl chloride. These vinyl resins are identified stillmore particularly in Patent No. 2,562,204y-issued July 31, 1951, to thepresent applicants (see page 1,'column 2, lines "26 through 32 of thepatent), while-the original al'ginate impression materials areidentified and in -Patent No. 2,538,160, issued January 16, 1951, alsoto the present applicants (see page 2, column 4, lines "19 through '60).In the making of the glove, there is employed a grade of polymer thecharacteristics of which are such that a dispersion consisting of'fiftypercent'polymer and'fifty per cent :di 2-ethyl hexyl phthalate'as'plasticizer for the polymer 'has a viscosity of less than fiftythousand centipoises. A dispersion of a resin of this type is made in asuitable plasticizer, together with stabilizing agents and pigments asrequired An illustrative, suitable composition is:

This composition has the viscosity of a rather thin library paste, andit can be poured with ease. The procedure consists in deaerating thepaste by the application of vacuum, and pour- 7 ing it into a mold, thepreparation of which has been described above. An additional deaeratingstep may be carried out at this point, if desired or the paste may bepoured out, leaving only a film, a vacuum applied and the mold refilledwith paste. Mechanical vibration is useful during the filling operation.The mold next is heated to the boiling point of water for a period offrom five to forty-five seconds, depending upon the speed of gelation ofthe particular compound employed. At the end of this period, the mold ischilled, and the paste is drained from it as thoroughly as is possibleat room temperature. The mold subsequently is drained first at 65 C. andthen at 90 C. for a typical compound. Drainage of the liquid paste isnearly complete, almost all of the plastic left in the mold being thatwhich gelled upon application of the heat. Gelation of the balance maybe effected by transferring the drained mold in an inverted position toan oven at 300 F. for a few minutes.

At this stage the plastic is entirely too weak for use as a glove, andits physical properties can be improved only slightly by prolongedexposure at temperatures in the neighborhood of 100 C. In order todevelop the ultimate strength of the material, exposure to a much highertemperature is necessary. For this purpose a temperature ofsubstantially 380 F. is preferred, although the optimum temperature forthis. final treatment may vary between 320 F. and 420 F. This treatmentmay be effected conveniently by immersing the mold in a pot of oil orglycerine maintained at the desired temperature. For a nickel mold 0.02inch thick, a time immersion of approximately four 'minutes usually issatisfactory.

An alternate procedure is to conduct the heating at about 380 F., in acirculating air oven for approximately five minutes, followed by animmersion for three minutes in the heat transfer liquid.

Upon being cooled, a thin glove, the thickness of which was determinedby the time of gelation at 100 0., is removed from the mold. The mold isin a single piece, and is a negative of the glove. The cosmetic glovewhich is formed is an excellent duplicate of the hand of the model,accurate in shape, and exquisite in skin detail.

It does not require being reversed after the fashion of gloves made ondipping forms.

The final step consists in coloring the glove. It will be apparent thatthe basic colors are incorporated in the resin paste compound. Whatremains is to color the veins, the finger nails, the knuckles, and tobreak up the monotony of the color over the entire surface. This may bedone by allowing soluble colors to diffuse into the deposited resin, butpreferably it is done by usin insoluble colors which cannot subsequentlymigrate in service.

To thi end, the glove conveniently is turned inside out, and pigments,which have been ground into a solution of the same resinous compositionof which the glove is made, are applied. An equally efiective method isto grind the pigment into the resin-plasticizer mixture employed, placethis upon the surface as required, and seal the color to the surface bythe application of a good solvent such a cyclohexanone or a solution ofthe resin in cyclohexanone. Small amounts of acetone, methylethylketone, methylene chloride, or propylene oxide may be added to increasethe bite of the solution or solvent. In this way, the added color iscaused to adhere to the glove proper and is covered with a layer ofplastic material which prevents its being rubbed off. It is to be notedthat the color is underneath the glove rather than on top so that verylittle abrasive action is encountered in service. If desired, naturalhair or nylon threads, or other synthetic fiber, dyed to the desiredshade, may be inserted by means of crochet needles or hooks, hollowneedles and the like. In this way, a most life-like appearance isachieved.

The accompanying drawings represent the improved cosmetic glove of thisinvention,

Fig. 1 showing a side view of the glove;

Fig. 2 a back view of the glove; and

Fig. 3 showing a section through the back of the glove taken on the lineIII-III of Fig. 2.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the glove as showncomprises the hand portion 5, open wrist portion 1, and fingers 9. Thehand portion 5 is shown as being provided with veins II, and the fingerswith the nail portions l3. Filaments l5, representing hairs, areprovided. The veins, nails, lines on the fingers and joints are impartedto the glove during the molding and all details are exact replicas ofthe original hand. The resin composition of which the glove is composedis of itself a close approximation of the natural skin, and transmitssufficient light so that the interiorly-applied pigmentation showsthrough just enough to impart an extremely life-like appearance to theglove.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that the gloves of this inventionare seamless and are made of a plasticized compound based on a polymeror copolymer of vinyl chloride, such as Vinylite VYNV-Z or Geon 100 x2l0" above identified. These resins differ from most vinyl chloridepolymers in that, when they are ground (in the first case) or mixed (inthe second) with a plasticizer, they form fluid dispersions. Coloringmaterials and stabilizers may be added to the pastes as desired.

On being heated to from C. to 0., these dispersions gel. On being heatedfurther to about C. to about 220 0., the weak initial gels fuse and oncooling exhibit the requisite tensile strength, tear andabrasion-resistance for the production of cosmetic gloves ofsatisfactory physical properties as well as appearance.

As has been indicated above, the process of the invention comprisesfilling the mold with the resin-plasticizer paste, clipping the moldinto water maintained a little below the boiling point for a shortperiod of time (about twenty seconds) and pouring out the material inthe center which did not become hot enough to gel.

Auxiliary layers of color to achieve a; life-like appearance aredeposited by pouring colored paste into the gelled skin in the mold anddraining out again without an intermediate gelling step. To break up thecolor, a dauber on the end of a stick or probe is rubbed aroundinsidethe mold. The thin, broken-up deposit which adheres thereto isgelled before additional paste is applied.

. -When a suitable number of layers of color have been applied andgelled, the entire deposit is fused by immersing the mold in a suitableheat transfer medium.

The highlights, veins, nails, etc., may be colored inione or more ofthree ways:

1. By applying to the deposit a suitably colored paste ona probe at anystage in the process prior to final fusion.

2. By dispersing insoluble colors in a resin solvent such ascyclo-hexanone or a plasticizer, and applying them to either side of theglove following fusion.

' .3. By dispersing soluble colors in a non-solvent and applying them tothe outside of the glove.

However, as is indicated above, the color prefcrably is appliedinteriorly of the glove, and becomes visible by light transmittedthrough the resin body of the glove.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim and wish to secure byLetters Patent is:

1. A cosmetic glove adapted to cover an artificial hand, comprising aflesh-colored, flexible, pliable and stabilized plasticized vinylchloride polymer, the polymer containing at least approximately 95% ofvinyl chloride, the glove being seamless and reproducing veins and allsurface characteristics of a natural model hand, the glove having itsinterior surfaces pigmented to reproduce by means of color showingthrough the glove the coloring of a natural model hand.

2. A cosmetic glove adapted to cover an artificial hand, comprising aplasticized, fleshcolored, flexible, pliable and stabilized vinylchloride polymer, the polymer containing at least approximately 95% ofvinyl chloride, the glove reproducing veins and all surfacecharacteristics of a natural hand, the glove being thin-walled, seamlessand having its interior surfaces pigmented to reproduce by means ofcolor showing through the glove the lines of a natural model hand, andfilaments distributed over back areas of the glove and anchored in theresin to reproduce the appearance of hairs on the natural model hand.

3.. A cosmetic glove adapted to cover an artificial hand, comprising aplasticized, fleshcolored, flexible, pliable and stabilized vinyl chloride polymer, the polymer containing at least approximately 95% of vinylchloride, raised back portions of the glove duplicating natural veins ina natural model hand, the glove being seamless and duplicating all othersurface characteristics of the natural model'hand, pigmentation on theinner surfaces of the glove imparting natural flesh tints to the glovewhen viewed in light transmitted through the glove, the raised backportions being interiorly colored to duplicate the appearance of naturalveins when viewed in light transmitted through the glove, and filaments.distributed over back areas of the glove and an chored in the rearthereof to reproduce the appearance of natural hairs on the naturalmodel hand.

4. A cosmetic glove adapted'to cover an artific'ial hand, comprising aplasticized, .fleshcolored, flexible, pliable and stabilized vinylchloride polymer, the polymer containing at least approximately of vinylchloride, the glove being interiorly pigmented on inner surfacesthereof, the pigments showing through the glove sufiiciently toduplicate the coloring of a natural model hand, the said glove includingfingers, knuckles, finger-nail portions, finger and palm lines, and veinportions, the said glove duplicat ing in appearance all surface detailsof the natural model hand, the glove being characterized by hightoughness and tear-resistance.

5. A sheath-like cosmetic glove for covering an artificial hand andwhich reproduces in high fidelity the appearance and surface details ofa natural model hand, the said glove being seamless and being providedwith an interior pigmented coating for imparting to the glove acoloration substantially identical to that of an amputee wearers normalhuman hand, the said glove being of a thinness adapted to permitvisualperception of the pigmented coating when viewed through the entirethickness of the glove from the anterior surface thereof and beingcomposed of a plasticized vinyl chloride polymer containing between 95%and vinyl chloride to provide and maintain a skin-like texture.

CLARE L. MILTON, JR. CARL A. NIELSQN.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 2,310,889 Becker i. Feb. 9, 1943 2,453,604 Tenenbaum et a1.Nov. 9, 1948 2,473,723 Nelson June 21, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS NumberCountry Date 500,298 Great Britain Feb. 7, 1939 OTHER REFERENCES Moldingand Casting, C. D. Clarke, 1938, John D. Lucas Co., publishers,Baltimore, Md. Copy in Scientific Library.

Facial Prosthesis, A. H. Bulbulim, 1945, W. B. Saunders Co., publishers,Philadelphia, Pa. Copy in Scientific Library.

